...it is now

The final day of the season and an assist from Steven Gerrard carries Alun Edwards' Radnorshire Tigers those crucial two points further ahead of RS T-Boy. Just as the portly lady begins her x-factor audition.

And that's it.

Apart from the ashamed collective silence as it becomes clear that you don't have to be thin and pretty with a wide white smile to be able to sing. But you do have to be thin and pretty with a wide white smile to be able to judge those who aren't thin and pretty with wide white smiles etc etc

Basically, there's no more time left for Rick Beecroft to push on to his second League Championship.

No more time for the T-Boys.

Indeed, having led the table since Week 14, sharing top spot only thrice - with Inter Milandrover [twice] and Radnorshire Tigers [once] - Mr Beecroft's team looked set to own the bragging rights of the Derby OFFL contingent. But a stunning last two months from Alun Edwards's Tigers enabled Mr Edwards to enjoy an OFFL Cup Final and this most close of League Victories.

The League Championship. Is Yours. Mr Edwards.

And while Rick Beecroft stands there, blinking vacantly, he can't quite form the words required to whole-heartedly congratulate the Dennis Taylor to his 1985 Steve Davis. Meanwhile, the rest of the OFFL Managers rush up to shake hands with the last minute winner of the most prized prize in fantasy football.

Well done Mr Edwards, well done.

Cue stylistic montage of season highlights played over a pompous operatic performance of Puccini.

And while that plays out, relegated to a ticker tape style scrolling information bar at the bottom of the screen we see that the Manager of the Week is Andy 'Having another beer on another indeterminate hotel balcony with the Mrs now let's post it up on You Tube' Straw. His Nuttingham Florist scored a playing-for-nothing 17 points. At the wrong end of the table, Gavin Ward managed to keep just above David Manttan's Two-Oh-Ten relegating him to a season in the sin bin next year. Perhaps.

Well, this has been marvellous. Do hang around for the free canapés and cheap wine we've laid on for you. Thanks for coming. And we'll see you next year, yeah?

Week 41: The Penultimate Week

...and there we have the crux of the matter.  Of the season.

As we enter the final week's worth of play the race for the League Championship is tied at the top.

Remarkable.

It's as if Our Most Gracious Chairman had designed it so.

Having lost the OFFL Cup Final to Manager of the Week Lionel Larking's Pompey Puss, who hammered home 21 points in the week they needed it most, Alun Edwards' Radnorshire Tigers now rest in First Place on Points per Pound difference knocking Rick 'First Place' Beecroft's RS T-Boys off his, um, First Place perch.

And it isn't just RS T-Boy and Radnorshire Tigers who fight for everything on the last day of the season.  Three other teams have the potential to sprint for the line too...  Current Champions BM Mingmongs could reclaim their title while it's still not over for Inter Milandrover and Olymping Macdrid.

And without actually needing to make it sound any more exciting than it really is, we here at Studmarks should just perhaps rest this edition of Studmarks to bathe in the exquisitely exciting anticipatory light that it has managed to generate itself over the past 41 weeks.

But no.  We had to labour it for just two last paragraphs.

OFFL Cup FInal Result

The OFFL Cup Final 

Radnorshire Tigers 16

Alun Edwards

v

Pompey Puss 21

Lionel Larking

 Where it counted on the day...

          Radnorshire Tigers   v   Pompey Puss

GK E van der Sar MU   3 v  3 M Schwarzer FUL

FB P Chimbonda   SUN  0 v  3 A Arbeloa   LIV

FB  J Lescott     EVE  0 v  0 P Jagielka  EVE

CB B Hangeland   FUL  3 v  3 J Bosingwa  CHE

MF M Taylor      BOL  0 v  0 T Walcott   ARS

ST F Torres      LIV  0 v  2 D Drogba    CHE

So, congratulations to the fluffy fella and commiserations to the stripy ones. 

Lionel Larking lifts the OFFL Cup for the first time and takes the spoils back to his litter tray.  Alun Edwards, meanwhile, can't believe his Tigers came so far only to fail and fall with the last tranquiliser dart in the hind legs. 

And while Lionel can relax with a back paw in the air, licking his modified mid-table giblets, The Radnorshire Tigers' season isn't over yet.  Oh no, there's an even grrrRREATer challenge awaiting...

Week 40: Radnorshire Rise

Alun Edwards is Manager of the Week again after his Radnorshire Tigers scored 21 points, fanning the flames of speculation that hint toward a miraculous Double Winning Season. Indeed, as the Tigers climb into second place in the table, they begin the OFFL Cup Final against Pompey Puss who's manager, Lionel Larking, won last week's Manager of the Week certificate.

I know, it's crazy.

In fact, Alun Edwards tops the Manager of the Week Certificate Winning charts so far this season with a total of five this season. And if we haven't hammered the point home enough... it's the final!

Week 39

The fight for second place is getting a little crowded up there while Beecroft's T-Boys enjoy another little surge away from the melee. And it's one of this year's OFFL cup finalists, Pompey Puss, pawing over this week's Manager of the Week certificate.

Nice.

Week 41 (Week beginning 11th May)
The OFFL Cup Final

Radnorshire Tigers
Alun Edwards
v
Pompey Puss
Lionel Larking

Radnorshire Tigers v Pompey Puss
GK - E van der Sar MU v M Schwarzer FUL
FB - P Chimbonda SUN v A Arbeloa LIV
FB - J Lescott EVE v P Jagielka EVE
CB - B Hangeland FUL v J Bosingwa CHE
MF - M Taylor BOL v T Walcott ARS
ST - F Torres LIV v D Drogba CHE

The Year of the Cat

With Jagielka out injured for the rest of the season and two Fulham defensive players possibly cancelling each other out it appears that the upper hand may be gloved with Radnorshire Tigers. However the smaller feline quadruped doesn't have the potential burden of a Sunderland defender.

Both teams have
CB N Vidic
MF S Gerrard
MF T Cahill
MF Geovanni
ST A Arshavin

Results out in 2 weeks.

Week 38: Low Roots, High Ambitions

One supposes that the big news of the week could be, nay - *should* be, the battle between the pretender Inter Milandrover and Champions Elect RS T-Boy all the way up there at the top. After all, this seems to have ambushed us into thinking that we may, actually, have an exciting fight to the finish on our hands this season.

One could suppose equally that the big news of the week might have been about the high scoring 35 points picked up by Mannschester United, earning all-round nice bloke Dan 'the Man' Manns the Manager of the Week certificate.

We could possibly have been cooing over the fact that Alun Edwards' Radnorshire Tigers have leapt into a very strong third place worrying the League into discreetly taking out their strategy notepads in order to scribble down the newly circulating rumours that a Double could be ON.

But the story that we're telling today is one of low roots and high ambition [apart from the high ambition bit]. In a world where big money and high scoring grabs all the headlines; one man, an honest man, wanting a better life for his family [maybe not 'honest'], downtrodden for the most part, he now rises like a Phoenix from the Flames of Failure...

...Yes. Gavin Ward's Metatarsenal hit 17 points this week and climb off the bottom of the league and above a somewhat alarmed David Manttan who now, incidentally, has to fly back from the depths of southern Africa to reorganize his team into earning back some desperately needed dignity. Gavin's pairing of Ronaldo and Torres seemed to have done most of the leg work for him this week though his West Brom, Stoke and Hull defenders haven't really been living up to expectations this season. Well, actually they HAVE been living up to most people's expectations this season but just not Gavin's it seems. Congratulations Gavin. A mere 208 points behind the leaders. It is indeed a marathon and not, as I think we mentioned before, a sprint.

You're all very patient.

--

New Loopy Album out soon. You simply must buy it [or at least some of the eight tracks] to make this poor underachieving indie-pop band look good on iTunes. Guaranteed catchy, cheap and verging on the exclusive - well, put it this way... your real mates probably won't have a copy.

Week 37: Still tied at the top

Rob Ivison begins to claw back the 54 point lead that his Charlie's Angels have generously given the two current leaders by winning this week's Manager of the Week certificate. He begins his victory run-in by scoring 13 points. And Khumbula Dube's Dube Stars FC climb highest, two places. That's all.

That's all.

PS
Has Gavin Given In? [say that quickly, it's most pleasing].

Has Gavin Given In? Has Gavin Given In? Has Gavin Given In? Has Gavin Given In? Has Gavin Given In? Has Gavin Given In? Has Gavin Given In? Has Gavin Given In? Has Gavin Given In? Has Gavin Given In?